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By Doug Sherwin
Monday, July 09, 2007
Wilson Petty Kosmo & Turner LLP is the largest woman-owned law firm in San Diego. Nearly 60 percent of its attorneys are female, including three of the four named partners.
But, as it quickly becomes apparent, this is no "chick firm." The group's diversity goes much deeper, and its talent is equally dispersed.
"We're just a really eclectic group of people, and to me, we're kind of the American dream firm," said partner Claudette Wilson, who's been with the firm since shortly after its founding in 1991. "There's just sort of a fascinating, diverse background within the firm that makes it a really fun place.
Claudette Wilson says her law firm is an “eclectic group of people, and to me, we're kind of the American dream firm." Photo: J. Kat Woronowicz
"It's really what America is supposed to be, which is a meritocracy. These people are all super lawyers, but 20 years ago they probably would've had a hard time being successful in a prominent firm, and now it's perfectly fine and normal."
The firm boasts partners Regina Petty and Vickie Turner, two African-American women who are leaders in their respective practice areas.
Partner Leonid "Lonny" Zilberman emigrated from Russia to America when he was 5.
Associate Dessi Nintcheva is a native of Bulgaria who came to the United States on a scholarship to Guilford College in North Carolina.
Wilson herself is a symbol of the firm's multicultural environment.
Her mother is a French woman who became a naturalized citizen after getting married.
That doesn't mean the firm shies away from its most obvious trait, however.
 "It's a source of pride that we have such a well-respected firm that is primarily women," Wilson said, "partly because of the historical views of women as advocates. There's still a segment of society that thinks women can't be effective advocates in big, serious business litigation."
The business litigation firm was originally launched by former Luce Forward Hamilton & Scripps attorneys Mark Mazzarella and Dana Dunwoody in the summer of 1991. A month later, Wilson, a colleague at Luce Forward, joined to form Mazzarella Dunwoody and Wilson.
Petty, who had been eyeing the firm with interest, joined Wilson in 1992 from Gray Cary (now DLA Piper) and brought along mutual friend Vickie Turner from Luce Forward in 1998.
Wilson Petty never set out to become a minority law firm; the diversity came through a natural progression.
"Until the last few years, most of our clients didn't even know that we were woman-owned or had a high minority representation," said Wilson, who heads the employment litigation practice group. "It's just in recent years there's been a push in corporate America to try to get more diversity in their representation, and so we've been asked to interview with companies who are actively looking for more diversity in their representation.
"Times have really changed and now the fact that we have so many women does not appear to be perceived as a negative by anyone ... opposing counsel, potential recruits or clients."
Early on, however, Wilson Petty's diversity was almost intimidating as the firm wasn't receiving many applications from quality male attorneys.
In the last five years, that trend has changed with inquires from men and women pouring in.
In an effort to raise its national profile, Wilson Petty joined a select group of firms with the National Minority Law Group in late 2005.
The coalition was formed to help companies interested in expanding the utilization of minority attorneys and minority-owned firms.
Wilson, like most of her colleagues at Wilson Petty, has grown her client base by treating the practice of law as a profession and not a business.
The client comes first, and firm attorneys always treat opposing counsel with respect and professional courtesy.
The firm doesn't track who brings in which clients, relying more on a general fairness assessment.
The associates aren't pitted against each other, either, and the partners work closely together, even on differing cases.
Fred Kosmo, a partner at Wilson Petty, said Wilson's penchant for drawing business is best illustrated with a story.
Several years ago, Wilson got a call from an attorney working as outside counsel for Minnesota-based mattress manufacturer Select Comfort.
He wanted information on a lawyer Wilson had opposed during a previous trail. Wilson obliged.
The Select Comfort (Nasdaq: SCSS) attorney later joined the company's in-house legal department and recommended Wilson for one its California cases. He subsequently gave Wilson's name to another Minnesota-based company, Target (NYSE: TGT).
"It's just sort of nice when you get a very nice client essentially out of just exercising professional courtesy and little bit of consideration for other people," Wilson said.
The firm also ended up representing General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) on approximately 25 cases after an attorney -- whose former document organization business Wilson once touted -- became the company's in-house counsel.
"Treat everyone as a prospective contact because they are, especially in San Diego," she said she tells young associates. "Everyone you run into knows somebody who knows somebody."
And everyone, it seems, knows Claudette Wilson.
She made a name for herself, first, by being a working mother.
As a third-year associate with Luce Forward, the then-35-year-old gave birth to twins -- a boy and a girl.
The blessed event landed her on the cover of a national trade magazine as Wilson continued to work part time for two years with the help of her accommodating bosses at Luce Forward.
Wilson is believed to be the first part-time female attorney in San Diego and one of the first women in the nation to work part time at a large firm.
"It was quite a challenge," she said. "It's a hard balance to achieve, and that's where Luce did a wonderful job of basically saying, 'What do you need?'"
The rigors of private practice and motherhood began to mount, and Wilson jumped at the chance for a 9-5 schedule by working as in-house counsel for Home Fed.
She left after two years to join what would become Wilson Petty.
It was at Wilson Petty where she became somewhat of a local celebrity with her monthly column, "The Lawyer Employer," which appeared in Dicta, the precursor to San Diego Lawyer magazine. It gave tips on how law firm officials can be good employers.
While she no longer writes as much, Wilson still holds speaking engagements and is a former president of the local Association of Business Trial Lawyers chapter.
"You have to keep your face out there so people you remember to refer things to you," she said.
Her current practice focuses on employment litigation, which it has for the past 15 years. She does a high percentage of wage and hour class actions.
Wilson said the 19-attorney firm is the ideal size, although admits that it will need to grow a little to support the firm's more junior partners.
"Everybody knows each other, (and) it's very easy to make decisions," she said. "It's a very comfortable size firm, and there's just no bureaucracy involved."
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